Hair Fallout

New advances may help minimize hair loss in cancer patients. Chemotherapy, which targets proliferating cancer cells, can destroy hair cells as well because they also divide rapidly during phases of growth. Scientists in Korea experimented with a protein that temporarily shifts hair follicles into a dormant stage. When rubbed on mice prior to chemotherapy, it reduced hair shedding and sped regrowth. In a separate study, researchers showed that hair growth peaks and dips at certain times of day. Mice that did radiation therapy at 5 P.M. lost only 17 percent of their hair; mice treated at 9 A.M. lost 85 percent. Mice are nocturnal, so their body clocks differ from ours, but further research could reveal an optimal time to receive cancer treatment in order to protect patients' hair, says lead study author Maksim Plikus, an assistant professor of developmental and cell biology at the University of California, Irvine.